The other day, Hacks basically posted some old stuff with the disclaimer of “um, but it’s good”.

Amen to that.

Last year was rough on me, musically. I basically spent every minute of every day complaining whilst listening to a very small palmful of sounds, while only chronicling a too-limited few. One of those albums that I never wrote a word about was Panda Bear’s Person Pitch.

There’s no love here at Res for Animal Collective, the freak-folktronic collective from which Noah “Panda Bear” hails. In fact, it’s pretty much always the exact opposite. Being redubbed the “Happy Super Fuzzy Animal Friends” by Hacks is really the lightest they’ve gotten off-they’re also the bearers of any and every fault for any and every thing. Hell, if the coffee pot breaks it’s their fault, and it will remain so until they finally reign themselves in and make something that sounds like the half-ecstasy half-terror that’s professed to be there sound, instead of the leaves-and-sticks potsmoke they actually purvey.

That said, the Panda Bear album was one of the best releases of 2007. Given that indie and punk culture began sopping up the minimal techno aesthetic like they’d never heard a closed hi-hat in their entire lives (and, fuck, when you’ve lived on a diet of tattoo ink and Blood Brothers albums, you probably haven’t), Noah’s second solo record was his first to sound anything at all like God making tech, and he nailed it in one go ’round. Harmonious, enveloping and surreal, Person Pitch, undoubtedly, saved many a life last year.

It’s such a sublime, life-affirming, sun-soaked record that, initially, the idea of anyone getting grease and Ableton all over Panda Bear’s perfection pissed me off. Then, about a week or so ago, Spank Rock’s XXXchange stepped up .

Panda Bear: Comfy In Nautica (XXXchange remix)

Now, granted, this is a ‘lectro heart-rattling rumbler, but XXXchange does something I’d never have thought someone who is more used to making Friday Dance Party jams would begin to play at: he translates Noah’s nearly-indecipherable vocals into a cold, robotic form, juxtaposing them with the original’s honeykissed harmonies to create something both sweaty and transcendent. This is, really, the only way a Panda Bear remix should be done if the dance floor is the ultimate goal.

With that sort of rejigger, I almost feel as though I’m given a free pass to throw Person Pitch on repeat (again) for the rest of day. If you’re a RES reader and you missed this record last year, now’s your shot. I never thought I’d witness these words being written by yours truly, but…if Brian Wilson made electronic music, he’d make Person Pitch. It’s that heartfelt, weird and remarkable.

Friendly bears of china, they want to be friends with you.